Hell
by bananasoup
Summary: This is what happened after Jack was left on the Game Station. One shot, with a possible sequel


Rusell T. Davies and the BBC own Dr Who, Torchwood and Captain Jack. And I'm not making any profit from this.

"See you in hell."

Captain Jack Harkness had lived a busy life. He had run and danced across the Universe, through time and space. He had lied and cheated his way through life, more recently he had even tried the saving people thing. He had met and flirted with some of the most interesting people and aliens in existence. And he did it all with that grin on his face. Yes, Captain Jack Harkness had lived.

Now it was time for him to die. He knew it would happen someday, okay he had been hoping that it was going to be someday in the far future when he had managed to sleep with a few more people. However he recognised that this was it, not even the Doctor would be able to save them today. So he said his goodbyes and went in; guns blazing, flirting until the end. There was no fear in this man's eyes when he stared at the glorified pepper pot that was going to deliver his death. And so the Captain died and he accepted that death, the hero's death.

The first thought he was aware of after that final exterminate was something along the lines of "huh, there is life after death, who'd have guessed?" He ignored the twinge he felt when he considered that the Doctor probably had a good idea about what came next. As a distraction he decided he might as well explore hell, see if he was actually going to meet Rose and the Doctor here. It was at this point that he heard it, the TARDIS. He ran, so obsessed with finding her that he didn't notice what he was running past. He arrived a split second too late, just in time to be left behind as she faded from view.

It was whilst he was watching the TARDIS leave that Jack Harkness considered that he might not be dead, surely the TARDIS didn't exist in the underworld. He tried his vortex manipulator, but to no avail, either it was broken or he was dead. Stranded, there was nothing for it but to explore. As he walked through the Game Station he began to think that this **was** hell.

Everywhere he turned there were bodies. The bodies of those who had refused to accept the fight, all still packed into the room where they had decided to hide and wait. The bodies of those that he had led into the battle. Those he had listened to as they fought; whose cries he had heard over the radio as they were exterminated.

It must be hell. He was alive and they were dead. The TARDIS was gone and he was left here stranded amongst death. He spent that first week checking every body, looking for their faces. Every time he turned a corpse over he expected to see her dead eyes looking up at him or the Doctor's eyes unblinking in death. Instead there were strangers, over 1,000 strangers. They were nameless to Jack but somewhere below they had family and friends and lives, except that now they were dead.

By the end of that first week the bodies were starting to get to him and he was running out of food. It was this that made him think to send out an SOS, if it was hell he doubted it would be picked up but if not he might be rescued. Unfortunately the comms were down after the Doctor had played with the wiring.

It took him two months to fix the communication system and send the message. After all he didn't have the Doctor's genius or his sonic screwdriver. He ran out of food supplies after the first week. He refused to accept what his sole food source now was and so starved for two weeks. He blacked out a few times, but it wasn't until after the blackout that reminded him of being shot by a Dalek that he crumbled and went to the room where he had stored the bodies, a room that he had programmed to be kept at a low temperature.

Finally the signal was sent and he sat and waited to see if he was going to be saved. It was another month and two more SOS s before the ship arrived to save him. He ran when he heard their engines. He was there to meet the men who had come in response to the message.

The men were spooked about the mission, it was thought that everybody had died – that was what the scan had shown when they had checked after the incident, no life. But then they were the SOS s. The first two had been dismissed as pranks by cadets, the third had been noticed and so here they were. They disembarked slowly, guns at the ready and saw a shape coming towards them. They both shot.

It was the third time that Jack had seen that particular shade of darkness and he was beginning to get a bad feeling about it. He woke in a spaceship and lay there for a few minutes, listening.

"How are we going to explain this? He wasn't even armed."

"We didn't know that. He could have been, he could have been the reason for what happened on that station."

"Really? You saw the look on his face; he looked scared, and so alone."

"I know, he still does. I don't think the Lieutenant is going to like this. We killed him."

"Actually you didn't." The two men would have crashed the ship had there been anything to crash into as they both jumped and turned to stare at Jack.

"Your aim must have been a bit off, not that it doesn't hurt like fuck, but clearly I'm still here. Although some painkillers would be much appreciated."

They just stared at him for a moment, before finding a first aid kit. The wounds were bandaged and he got his painkillers.

It had only been a few hours but Jack was aware that this definitely wasn't hell. And he was determined to get away. They thought he was insane as he talked about storms and death and daleks and a gold light that chased away the darkness. Then again he had spent over three months on a space station full of dead bodies; a little insanity was to be expected.

The next month was spent trying to get his Vortex Manipulator to work, whilst avoiding difficult questions. Questions that might end up with him in an asylum. Finally he thought he'd got it mended and set it to Cardiff, New Year's Day 2000. He got Cardiff and New Year's Day. Just unfortunately it was closer to 1800 than 2000 and the wrist strap wasn't going to take him anywhere else either.

And so Jack did not die and he did not go to hell. But he did stop running through space and time. Captain Jack Harkness was stuck on the slow path

So what do you think? It's my first posted fic, so please let me know if you liked it.


End file.
